The South Shore Fire Station was built in 1971 and may need to be replaced. (Courtesy photo: City of Lake Oswego)

Though polling results weren’t overwhelmingly positive, a consultant hired by the city of Lake Oswego to gauge public opinion on whether the local government should go out for a bond measure to finance the replacement of the South Shore Fire Station said the measure was viable.

The polling conducted by FM3 Research found that 54% of 410 respondents — which was considered a representative sample of likely voters — generally supported the idea while 35% opposed it and about 10% remained undecided.

“I’m a little surprised that while it’s positive, it’s not as big of a home run as it could be,” Councilor John Wendland said.

The current South Shore station was built in 1971, does not have adequate living quarters for both men and women, is not seismically resilient and has inadequate storage, among other deficiencies. A task force recently determined that a new station would cost between $16.7 million and $18.4 million depending on its size and other variables. The city plans to authorize a bond measure no more than $25 million (though it is hoping for a much lower figure).

Miranda Everett, partner at FM3 Research, told the council that the total percentage of respondents who would definitely vote yes for the measure was 28% while 37% are either undecided, would lean yes or would probably vote yes. Democrats were much more supportive than Republicans, who expressed concerns about high taxes and government waste.

“The good news here is these (the 37%) are folks who are typically supportive of finance measures, including progressives, liberals, more Democratic and younger voters,” Everett said.

Everett also noted that support for the measure increased a bit (from 54% to 59%) once people were provided more information.

“There’s a lot of evidence here that once folks understand the need for the station, just in four bullet points, that it is a measure that is well prepared to succeed, but the task will be that communication and getting (information) out to the public,” Everett said.

Mayor Joe Buck and councilors emphasized that they want the project to be cost effective, even if that means the result is more minimalistic than some may hope. And he said the polling results show that the city still needs to prove to voters that this is a worthy project.

“I think it’s our obligation to deliver the project we can that really addresses the needs of the fire department, but that isn’t the world’s fanciest fire station we’ve ever seen that is trying to do everything for the community,” he said. “This needs to be very functional and safe for the men and women who work there and that’s pretty much it.”

Wendland said the city may at some point ask the community for bond measure support for a new library as well and agreed that fiscal responsibility is paramount.

City staff and consultants are working on an exact cost estimate and will need to have that done in time for the addition of the ballot measure, deputy city manager Madison Thesing said. The local government hasn’t decided if it wants to forward the bond measure for the May 2026 or November 2026 election; City Manager Martha Bennett said the spring election would speed up the project by about a year.